Bone scans for prostate cancer often superfluous

Section: The Consumer's Medical Journal
Rochester, Minnesota: Critics are charging that bone scans given to men who have been diagnosed with prostate cancer are unnecessary and add expenses that contribute nothing to dealing with the disease.

Nuclide bone scans are employed to determine whether the cancer has spread. Experts maintain that almost half the men who are diagnosed affirmatively do not need the scans. If metastasis has taken place among the small percentage, the PSA test (a mere blood test) could determine whether a problem exists.